Wanna be AG? Go soft on drugs: The Dem candidates compete on their Rockefeller 'reform' credentials

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced a list of new hires. (Marcus Santos)

The silliest debate of the silly season to date has to be the Democratic attorney general candidates' squabble over so-called reform of the Rockefeller drug laws.

Five otherwise intelligent people are competing to be the top prosecutor of a state that has seen a worrying uptick in violent crime, much of it drug-related.

Yet all they seem to argue about is who has fought harder to keep cocaine and heroin dealers out of prison and on the streets.

The clear winner of this bizarro competition so far is state Sen. Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan, Bronx) pictured above. A longstanding proponent of going easy on drug crime, he was a lead sponsor of last year's sweeping rollback of criminal penalties for possession and sale of narcotics.

That gives him bragging rights in a field of candidates feverishly pandering to their party's left wing, knowing that those are the voters likely to determine the outcome of a typically low-turnout primary.

The loser is Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who took a perfectly sane stand against last year's legislation - and now faces relentless bashing from Schneiderman and WestchesterAssemblyman Richard Brodsky for the sin of dissenting from what has apparently become party orthodoxy.

Worse, Rice has waffled under fire, and now claims she actually supported Schneiderman's bill all along - even though a letter she wrote criticizing the bill was quoted on the floor of the Senate by a Republican who voted no.

Is there no room in the Democratic Party for tough-on-drugs politicians anymore?

Rice should have stuck to her guns and pointed out the very real and very dangerous flaws in what Schneiderman so proudly hails.

He and other supporters misleadingly packaged his bill as "reform" of the notoriously tough drug laws pushed through by then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in 1973.

In fact, the harshest provisions of those laws - such as possible life sentences for mere possession of a few ounces of cocaine - were already long gone, having been thrown out during previous overhauls.

But last year's law went way beyond repealing what was left of the Rockefeller laws to effectively decriminalize hard drugs in some circumstances.

In fact, it officially declares drug addiction to be an excuse for committing other crimes - a radical and unprecedented step.

Hard-core dealers - with multiple prior convictions - can avoid prison and get felony charges wiped out by showing that they're hooked on cocaine (or alcohol or marijuana) and agreeing to enter treatment.

They can also ask the judge to seal their previous convictions for nonviolent crimes, effectively wiping their slate clean.

They can even lie with impunity if asked about their record when applying for jobs.

Happily supporting the bill, meanwhile, were a couple of drug dealers caught on tape in a jailhouse conversation:

"They just gave me the free-for-all," one said to the other, referring to what he called the "Drug Dealer Protection Law."

"You know what that means? I'm burnin' the streets up when I go home. . . . Well, the Beast is being created right now."

Is it a coincidence, one year on, that New York City is experiencing increases in murder, rape, robbery and assault - possibly marking the end of a downward trend that has made it the safest big city in the U.S.? It's too soon to say for sure.

Another troubling sign comes from New York City special narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan, who reports that fewer convicts are going into treatment, choosing instead to serve out slap-on-the-wrist sentences.